Pope County to pay smaller share of judge's salary; funds needed for county cleanupBy Brooke ChambersReporter

The Pope County Quorum Court learned Thursday night about an estimated $8,000 cost savings the county would see with the state's new pilot District Court Judges Appropriation Acts.

As previously reported in a June 30 Courier article by Laura Eppes, the area's Intergovernmental Council agreed recently to become one of the 12 counties in Arkansas to take the District Court appropriation, making District Judge Don Bourne a state employee.

The decision raised Bourne's salary by nearly $50,000 - from about $65,000 to $115,000. But Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson told the court the county would save money.

"The state is going to pay half of his salary, which leaves about $57,000 for the county and the cities to pay," Gibson said. "Then we'll break it down fair share like we do for 911 [emergency communications]."

Gibson told The Courier after the meeting the county currently pays about $32,500 for the district judge's salary, which is half of the current $65,000 the county splits with Russellville only. The new salary will be split among the state, the county, Russellville, Atkins, Dover, London and Pottsville. The four smaller towns each pay less than $2,500 for district court, and Hector does not hold court.

In other business, Gibson asked the Quorum Court justices of the peace if they would be willing to continue the biannual county cleanups while taking into consideration that the fall cleanup could cost the county an extra $20,000.

"Right now, we don't have the money in our budget to have a fall clean-up," Gibson said. He explained HAZMERT, the company the county hires to dispose of the paint and chemicals brought to the clean-ups, has already written a contract to host the event Sept. 29, National Public Lands Day.

"I think the people will demand it," Justice Edwin Shinn said of the clean-ups.

The court voted to host a fall cleanup and find a way to garner the funds to do so. No money was appropriated Thursday.

During the spring clean-up held in April, 92.15 tons of trash and 32.76 tons of recyclable metal were collected, as well as 16,050 pounds of paint and a "trailer full" of tires. The event cost $25,000, $15,000 of which was paid to HAZMERT.

The court also approved:

 $142,000 in grant funds for the sheriff's office and the office of emergency management.

 $100,000 in reimbursement funds for the county road department.

 $8,085 from the sheriff's budget to purchase weapons for its special response team.